


Broken Parts, On The Mend

by rebelmeg



Series: Rebelmeg's Bucky Barnes Bingo 2019 [4]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Awkward Conversations, Banter, Bucky Barnes & Tony Stark Friendship, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Bucky Barnes's Metal Arm, Comic Book Science, Consent is extremely important, DUM-E is best bot, Developing Friendships, Gen, Genius Shuri (Marvel), Natasha Romanov Is a Good Bro, Not Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Compliant, Sassy FRIDAY, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Winter Soldier Bucky Barnes, accidental triggering, mentions of nonconsensual body modification, steve being an idiot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-27
Updated: 2019-08-27
Packaged: 2020-09-27 15:43:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20410243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: Tony has Shuri's best assurances that Bucky can no longer be triggered into the Asset by the control words, but there is no guarantee that the Winter Soldier isn't still lurking somewhere in Bucky's head.  All that aside, there's something up with the guy's new arm, and if they could get to the point of trusting each other, maybe Tony could help.Thanks to Shuri's hard work, Bucky's mind is his own again.  As he tries to become his own person again, in the new and foreign setting of the Avengers Compound, he ends up learning a lot.  And finding a lot in common with the one person he never would have expected.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OMG, TSB is almost over and I'm kinda sad about it! BUT I'm so proud of how much I've done, I have far surpassed what I thought I would be able to get done! With that said, Chapter 1 of this fic fills my **BBB square K2 - Iron Man**, and Chapter 2 fills my **TSB square S4 - comics image of Tony fixing Bucky's metal arm**
> 
> I had a glorious beta for this fic, my lovely Mei Mei, sleepoverwork!

The second the video-feed connected to wherever it was in Wakanda that Princess Shuri was located, Tony was talking.

“I read up on you last night, Your Highness. Big fan. I look forward to seeing you utterly shame my entire life’s work by the time you’re twenty.”

Shuri looked… slightly baffled at that, as if she wasn’t sure if he was complimenting or insulting her. “You called about Sergeant Barnes.”

“I did.” Tony got right to it. “Can you swear to me, on the life of your brother, that he will not relapse and do harm to himself or others?”

She was silent for a moment, regarding him with shrewd, dark eyes. “Not even a man with an unaltered brain can be put under that kind of promise.”

Tony nodded in acquiescence. “True. But he’s got a darker side than most. It is my responsibility to make sure he’s got himself under control before I allow him back here. I’ve got people to take care of, and while I absolutely respect the work you’ve done with him, I just need some assurance that he won’t suddenly go psycho one night and murder us all in our beds.”

“I see. The work I did was extensive, but it’s permanent. The trigger words no longer have any power over him. No one can trigger him by external means, not with the words.”

Tony’s eyes narrowed slightly. “By _external_ means. That sounds like there’s an elephant-sized _but_ hanging around somewhere.”

One corner of the teenager’s mouth lifted in a brief smile. “Yes. The brain is a complex organ, as I’m sure you know, Mr. Stark. The experiences he had, the tortures and traumas he was subjected to as part of his conditioning, they are a part of him now. The trigger words are powerless, yes. But under the right circumstances, it is very possible his mind could revert to the Asset, on its own. Not permanently. It is not stable enough for that. But he may, for short periods of time, go back into that mental state. It is important to remember, however, that the violence he caused while under mind control was not his choice. It was Hydra.”

Tony held back the bitterness and lingering pain related to that topic. "Trust me, I haven't forgotten." He sighed and ran a hand through his hair as he turned the princess's words over in his head. “I thought it had gotten better.”

“It has, so much." Shuri assured him. "But as much as Sergeant Barnes may hate it, the Soldier is still a part of him, and will likely always be.”

Tony nodded. “Would you recommend that he come back? Given what he’s gone through, and the progress he’s made with you?”

The princess shrugged. “I can’t say for sure. It may be good for him, to have a chance at his own life, in an environment that is not only closer to where most of his memories of his previous life are, but it will allow him room to explore and grow. He is relatively sheltered here. We can keep him safe, and also intervene if things go badly. But he may never relapse, and he also may never have a chance to create his own life again if he remains with us. It’s just too hard to say for sure. I can give you no guarantees.”

Tony rubbed at his goatee absentmindedly. “I’ll give it a think. Would you mind asking him what his opinion is? This is a decision he has to be a part of. And I trust you to relay my question to him, and his honest answer back to me.”

If she found anything suspicious about that, she didn’t say. “I will.”

“Thank you, Princess. May I contact you in a few days to discuss the matter further?”

“Certainly, Mr. Stark. I will conduct some research of my own and we can confer more then. Good evening.”

With a nod, Tony disconnected the video call, then sat back in his chair with a heavy sigh.

This was going to be… something.

Guess he had work to do.

* * *

Two days. Steve had waited until he and Barnes had been back for two whole days to start in on things.

Tony prided himself on his self-restraint. No, he really did, and he had good reason to. Only a _fraction_ of his bad ideas ever made it out of his head, and even still he’d cut back on those in the past several years.

Right now, though, the urge to punch Steve Rogers right in the mouth was on the very brink of becoming one of those bad ideas that solidified into real life. Because if he didn’t shut that damn mouth right now and stop trying to bully Tony into doing some kind of repair job on Barnes’ new vibranium metal arm that seemed to have come down with a problem… yeah. Bad idea let loose.

“You have no idea what he’s going through, Stark.”

_Ouch_, that hurt, more than Tony had thought it would. He’d been _Tony_ when Steve left, but now… he was back to being Stark. Right, then.

Tony kept his voice even, but it was a near miss, he kind of wanted to do anything but be nice right now. “You’re right, I don’t know exactly what he’s going through. But I have had someone mess with my mind before.” He steadfastly avoided bringing up Wanda’s name, it was just a surefire way to start an argument. He left out Loki too. “I know what nonconsensual body modification is like. And torture is pretty much an old friend.” 

Steve probably felt the rush of blood as his face went white first, then his cheeks went pink. And Tony wasn’t looking at him, couldn’t quite bring himself to do that, but if he had, he would have seen a wash of shame cross Steve’s features. Steve knew Tony’s file as well as Tony knew his, he knew all about Afghanistan and the horrors Tony had somehow clawed his way out of, and everything that had happened as a result. Stane, Vanko, palladium poisoning, New York, the Mandarin, Killian, Ultron, and then… the whole mess with the Accords. 

“I’m sorry, Tony.”

That _did_ have Tony looking up, meeting Steve’s eyes through the reactor-blue color of the holoscreen between them. Tony just nodded, not really knowing what to say that wouldn’t set them back six steps like always (see, check him out, he was using that brain-to-mouth filter).

“Yeah. Anyway, don’t get me wrong, I’m happy you and tall, dark, and scowly are back, we’ve just got… baby steps, first. Before we jump right into… all that. And I’m sure as hell not touching him unless he is 100% willing, with absolutely no badgering from you or anyone else.”

Steve nodded and looked down at his feet, shifting uncomfortably. “Makes sense. I… thanks for… considering it. You’re right. Baby steps.”

“Yep. See you around.” Okay, so ending a conversation gracefully was something he was still working on, so sue him.

Steve didn’t seem to mind the dismissal, and he even managed a small, mostly real smile as he turned around and left the room.

Out in the hallway, out of sight beyond the edges of the glass windows that made up most of the walls of the lab, Bucky had heard everything they had said and he vanished before Steve made it out of the room a few seconds later.

* * *

Trying hard to keep his breaths slow and even as he left Tony's lab, Steve made it down the hall and around a corner before he had to stop and lean against the wall, putting his head in his hands.

Holy shit, how could he have _forgotten_ ? How could he have stood there and said those things, accused Tony of not understanding, when he was in fact probably the one person in the Compound that might really know what Bucky was going through?

He felt absolutely sick. At himself, and at the memories this all brought up, everything that happened leading up to Siberia. 

Everything Steve hated about himself had been the star of the show during the whole Accords debacle, and then again just now in Tony’s lab. Selfishness, manipulation, bullheadedness, unwillingness to listen or compromise. Things that had gotten him in trouble back in the day, when he’d been backed by an undeviating moral compass, were so much more of a problem now. That moral compass of his had gotten a whole lot off-kilter the longer he’d been immersed in this new world. It was something he’d been ignoring. He’d been ignoring a lot of things.

He had the feeling that who Captain America was, who he himself was becoming, was someone that the 90-pound, all elbows and bony-limbed punk he’d been back in 1943 would have hated. He wasn’t even sure he knew who Steve Rogers was anymore.

* * *

“Mr. Stark,” The princess answered Tony’s video call with a slight smile.

“Hiya. Good morning, right? It’s morning there?”

“Yes, it is. Which begs the question why you’re awake at three in the morning there?” She was squinting at him now, and it was remarkably reminiscent of Pepper when she was about to get disapproving.

Tony waved a hand. “It’s not unusual. You got a minute?”

“Certainly.”

Tony briefly went over what he knew, that Barnes was having troubles with the arm and what he suspected it might be given the brief times they’d been in the same room together.

“I told Rogers that it’s up to Barnes what he wants to do, whether that’s going to you or me to have it looked at. I just wanted to give you a heads-up.”

Shuri had been manipulating something offscreen as he spoke, possibly something very similar to Tony’s own holoscreens if he was guessing correctly, and she nodded. “I can send you the schematics, if you agree to sign an NDA. That’s non-negotiable.”

“Of course, I can do that right now if you’d like, whether or not you send the schematics.”

She glanced at him for a second, as if slightly surprised, then went back to whatever she was doing. “Given his past issues, I do think it’s important that Sergeant Barnes choose for himself what he would like done.”

“I agree. That’s what I told Steve.”

That had the princess pausing again, and she dropped her hands as she faced the camera fully. “Yes, so you said.” 

Tony felt somewhat awkward as Princess Shuri appeared to study him, her head cocking slightly to the side, a few tightly woven braids falling over her shoulder.

“You know, you are not what I expected at all.” She said after a moment, looking her actual age for the first time. It was like she’d let some kind of wall down, and she was looking at him through their video connection with something like curiosity and perhaps confusion? Maybe embarrassment?

“How so?”

“I’ve seen news footage of you, and read articles. I, perhaps foolishly, expected you to be the person that you are to the media.”

Tony held back a sigh. He got this a lot. “Yeah. Gotta work on that.”

“Not necessarily. There is value in a public mask. I would think that the people that are close to you have the opportunity to appreciate it that much more when you drop that mask for them. I have to say, I have very much appreciated the lack of it in our interactions, and the lack of condescension, misogyny, or competition that I admit I did expect.”

Tony shook his head. “I wasn’t kidding when I said I’m a fan, Your Highness. Once I was able to find out what you’ve done, the strides you’ve made in different branches of science, both with and without vibranium technology? You are very possibly the most remarkable mind of this century, and it would be the highest insult to you and a slight against myself to pretend otherwise. People told me when I was a kid that I’d change the world someday, but look at you. You already have. You deserve the utmost respect I can possibly give you. Anything less is unacceptable.”

Okay, he hadn’t meant to fanboy _quite_ that much, especially given the struck-silent reaction on the other end of the call.

“I… can’t really think of a reply to that, Mr. Stark. Thank you.”

“You’re very welcome.”

* * *

Bucky had made it a priority, after Siberia, to learn everything he could about the people he’d been fighting with and against at Steve’s side. There had been… a lot of information available about Stark (and a few YouTube videos he _really_ would have preferred not to have seen), but nothing that had really gone over what had happened to the man when he’d been captured by terrorists and held for three months in captivity. Just that sometime after he’d gotten back, it had come out that he had an arc reactor in his chest. Not even the leaked SHIELD files had much information (Bucky suspected that Stark had somehow managed to remove files about himself from the internet, because if anyone could do that, Stark could).

Bucky had read the pamphlet (book, more like), that had been left in his room and explained how the Compound “worked”. Where everything was, the bio-sensors, FRIDAY, common and private areas, how to disable the cameras in his room if he so desired, etc. And he knew that FRIDAY would either be his best or worst chance at finding out more information about Stark, since he clearly did not know enough about the man.

It took him the entire rest of the day to pull together the nerve to address the AI, and his voice still came out hoarse when he did.

“Uh… FRIDAY?”

The accented voice replied immediately. “Yes, Sergeant Barnes?”

Okay, great, first contact established.

“If I wanted to learn more about… about my teammates, more than I’ve learned already… How would I do that?”

There was a pause, that for some reason made Bucky feel acutely uncomfortable, then that cool, lilting Irish voice said pertly, “I would suggest you ask them.” And that was that.

Right. AI was a no-go. Time for Plan B.

* * *

It was impossible to tell what Natasha (_Natalia_, a buried part of him whispered) thought about Bucky asking her more about Stark.

She did raise one red eyebrow at him when he slowly, haltingly asked her about Afghanistan. He almost withdrew the question, but what he’d overheard Stark say in the lab the day before was haunting him.

_You’re right, I don’t know exactly what he’s going through. But I have had someone mess with my mind before. I know what nonconsensual body modification is like. And torture is pretty much an old, dear friend._

“I think he’s… like me. In some ways. I think he could…” Bucky waved his hand vaguely, his metal hand, in the general vicinity of his head. “I think he might understand.”

Natasha let herself show what she was thinking now, sympathetic hurt in her eyes, her mouth drawing down into a frown.

“What do you already know?” She asked.

“Not much. That he had an arc reactor keeping his heart going, keeping out shrapnel from an ambush. That he somehow escaped captivity after three months, with it already in his chest. But there’s nothing about what happened in there.”

She was silent for several long moments, staring Bucky right in the eye as if measuring his resolve, or his worthiness. Her voice was quiet and controlled when she finally spoke.

“They had to remove part of his sternum, ribs, and lungs to fit the electromagnet and casing in there. He’s got metal plates and screws holding him together now that it’s gone. It was extremely invasive surgery, and from what I understand, there was no anesthetic in that cave. He was drugged into unconsciousness, but that’s it.”

For some reason, Bucky’s throat ached in a way that made him suddenly remember a time as a kid when he’d skinned his knee really bad, making blood drip down his leg and tears run down his face.

“He said he’s had someone mess with his mind before.”

Natasha’s features tightened in an alarming way. “Yes. We all have.”

And Bucky recognized it, and suddenly realized why some of them never seemed to completely relax when Wanda Maximoff was in the room. He couldn’t help but blurt out, incredulously, “How is she still here?”

“Because Steve and Clint take in strays without thinking about it. We’re all trying, including her.”

Bucky had no idea how he felt about that. He really didn’t. Wanda had been easy to learn about, how she’d gotten her powers, and at whose hands. She had given herself to Hydra, _volunteered_. And now, without a single consequence, she was living with the rest of them?

After everything he’d gone through, the daily struggles he had to work through just to maintain basic human function? Her being there was not just a danger, but an insult.

“Barnes.”

Natasha’s voice cut through his spiraling thoughts, and he looked at her again.

“You’ve got problems with your arm, don’t you?”

He glanced at it, rotating his wrist, feeling the lag and the faint shocky sensation. “Little ones. Nothing bad.”

“You should let Tony look at it. He’s been in contact with Shuri, and I’m sure he’ll know how to fix it. All you have to do is ask.”

Bucky shook his head, letting his hair fall down around his face. “I don’t think it’s my place to ask that man for one more damned thing.”

Something softened in Natasha’s face. “Maybe not. But he’d do it for you anyway. That’s who Tony is. He fixes things.” Rising gracefully, she left the room, leaving Bucky to stew in his thoughts.

* * *

Tony… honestly had no idea what to think when FRIDAY told him he had a visitor requesting access to the lab, and glanced up to see Barnes standing on the far side of the glass, looking nervous.

“Huh… that’s new. Let him in?”

“You don’t sound so sure, Boss.”

“I’m not, but do it anyway.”

Barnes looked almost surprised when the door opened, and he stepped through into the lab hesitantly, head partially bowed. Tony gestured to minimize the holoscreens he’d been working on, and moved around to meet him halfway.

“Sergeant Barnes.” 

The guy was standing awkwardly just inside the doorway, stiffly and almost like he wanted to fidget but he was forcing himself to be still. “Hi.”

“What brings you to my humble workshop this fine Tuesday evening?”

“It’s Wednesday and raining, Boss.”

“Not helping, FRIDAY. We talked about this. No making me look stupid in front of guests.”

“Of course, I’ll let you handle that yourself then.”

As Tony snorted, he noticed a tiny flicker of a smile on Barnes’ face. The banter between Tony and his sassy AF bot seemed to have put him slightly at ease, and he took another step further into the workshop as he took a deep breath.

“Figured I might… introduce myself.” Barnes said, lifting his head to meet Tony’s eyes. “Haven’t yet.” He slowly extended his hand, his movements measured in a way that made Tony think that the guy was making sure to be careful and to telegraph his movements.

Shutting away all the reservations he had lingering in his mind, Tony shook his hand. “I’m Tony Stark. Nice to meet you.”

Another smile, faint but there, lifted the corner of Barnes’ mouth. “Bucky Barnes. Right back atcha.”

Awkward silence.

“Your arm’s bugging you, isn’t it?” Tony finally said after several excruciating moments of quiet. “You hold and move it differently than you did the first day you were here.”

Barnes—well, he was Bucky now, wasn’t he?—nodded, frowning a little as he looked down at his arm. “Yeah. Shuri said it might have a few little problems here and there, since it’s never been field tested before.”

Tony gestured to one of his less cluttered worktables, and shoved a few things aside. “What’s going on with it?”

Sitting on the offered bench, Bucky explained what the wrist was doing, moving it to demonstrate the lag, answering the questions Tony asked.

“I think you’ve probably got either a short, or maybe a gear getting gummed up by something,” Tony hypothesized, pulling up a holoscreen and accessing the schematics of the arm that Princess Shuri had sent over. “If you want, I can pop open a panel really easy and take a look.” He pointed at the panel he was talking about and glanced over at Bucky, watching him carefully. “It’s up to you. We can also get the princess on videochat if you want, and she can take a look. I can also have you flown out there as soon as I get a jet prepped.”

Bucky was silent for a few moments, looking up at the glowing schematics. He was fidgeting a little, tapping his metal fingertips on the surface of the worktable, but eventually he stilled and met Tony’s eyes.

“If you can look at it… that’s okay with me.”

“You sure?”

He nodded, maintaining eye contact. “I’m sure.”

Tony smiled and clapped his hands together. “Alright! No time like the present?”

With a bit of a smile himself, Bucky nodded and arranged his metal arm so it lay flat on the table.

It only took a few minutes, the work of opening up the access panel, fixing a short, and doing a minor adjustment to a gear easy and relatively simple. Tony liked to talk to himself (one of the benefits of having bots and AI’s around was that he could talk to them anytime he wanted as well, rather than talking to himself), and he kept up a running commentary while he worked. Bucky didn’t say much, but his short replies to the odd question told Tony he was listening.

Tony was just closing up the panel on the arm and wiping it down with a rag, when he realized that Bucky was watching him. Not regular watching, but a fixed, concentrated kind of watching, and Tony had to hold back the urge to fidget. 

“Whatcha looking at, Freezey-Pop?”

Bucky startled slightly, looking a little ashamed at getting caught. “The reactor.”

Tony glanced down at his reactor-free and shirt-covered chest, confused. “What?”

There was a strange quality to Bucky's voice then when he asked, “Did it hurt?”

Tony shrugged. “Well, yeah, crude open heart surgery in a cave doesn’t exactly tickle.”

“No. After.” Bucky took a deep breath, his eyes flickering closed for a second, then managed to look Tony in the eye. “You had it for years. Did it hurt?”

Oh.

Tony found himself taking his own deep breath, something that still ached even though the invasive metal was gone. “Yeah. Yeah, it did. Still does.”

Bucky’s shoulder, the newly-fixed metal one, twitched. “Thought it might.”

“The arm does too?”

“Yeah. Aches.”

Tony opened his mouth, closed it again, then committed to the question. “Is it worse in the cold?”

Bucky shuddered, a flash of remembered pain crossing his face. “Yes. Hurts so bad. I get… headaches, real bad ones, from the metal rods they had to attach to my spine to brace the arm. They get cold, and it's just..." Another shudder. "Sometimes I get a migraine if I even see snow outside. Coming out of cryo… sometimes I’d beg for them to kill me.”

Tony nodded in sympathy, not even flinching at that dark confession. He had plenty of his own. “I didn’t get the headaches, but… my lungs. Going outside in the winter used to make me feel like I was suffocating, drowning in ice. I used to keep hot packs in my coat pockets so I could tuck them inside my shirt over the reactor.”

“Wish I’d had something like that.” Bucky was looking slightly wistful, his gaze unfocused. “Didn’t need it in Wakanda, hot all the time there.”

“Maybe I can work something out.” Tony said, his mind immediately spinning into gear. “Besides hot packs, I mean, I can get you a bulk order of those right now if you want. But I can probably do something with the arm, something that will keep it warm in the cold all by itself.” Tony waved a finger in the direction of his brain, “Genius, and all that. Or I can talk to Princess Shuri, if you’d prefer. She’d figured something out in two ticks, she’s brilliant.”

There was something on Bucky’s face, impossible to interpret, but he just nodded. “That would be… yeah, thanks. Either one. Thanks.”


	2. Chapter 2

Bucky shouldn’t have been surprised when, a week later, Tony passed on a message via FRIDAY that he had something for Bucky in the workshop. 

He was playing cards with Sam and Steve at the time, and losing, so it was a good enough excuse for him to toss his cards down and leave before the birdbrain beat him again.

Tony grinned and waved something tiny in the air as soon as Bucky came through the door. “I’m a genius! And Shuri is even more so!”

“Congratulations?”

“Ha ha, you’re hilarious. Come over here.” Tony patted the bench next to him, and it made Bucky feel… something in the neighborhood of pleased, that the guy seemed so much more comfortable around him. “You remember our conversation about cold affecting your arm and my reactor?”

“Yeah.”

“I think we’ve got a solution for you. It’s pretty clever, I have to say, an interesting mix of Wakandan vibranium tech mixed with some arc reactor tech. By the way, I have such a science boner for Wakandan tech, there are seriously no words.” 

As Bucky struggled between smirking and choking, Tony held up the thing he’d been waving around, some kind of tiny glowing chip with a couple thin wires attached. “It’s a self-powered heater, sorta, just bite-sized. Shuri found a place we can attach it to your arm, right in the middle so it’ll be able to generate heat throughout the whole thing. If my math is right, and it has never yet been wrong, this thing will keep that arm at or slightly above normal body temperature for a minimum of several decades. It’s got an automatic temperature control, so it’ll adjust when the weather changes without you having to fiddle with it. I've been testing it on my armors, both empty and with me in them, and I'm confident that it will work exactly how it's supposed to.” Tony paused, seeming like he had to physically pull back his excitement when he held the device out. “What do you think? It’s entirely up to you.”

Bucky took the thing carefully, assuming it would be delicate, and studied it. It barely registered as a weight in his palm, and the blue-white glow was exactly like the arc reactors in the Iron Man suits. “How would you attach it?”

“It goes pretty deep inside your arm, where your humerus bone would be, under your biceps muscle. I’ve been studying the specs for your arm, so I can do it, if you’re comfortable, or Shuri is willing to fly out, or you can head to Wakanda and she and/or I can do it there. Your choice.” Tony’s eyes met his seriously. “It wouldn’t hurt. Shuri built that arm with a way to turn off the sensors that communicate sensation, so there would be no pain, but you would probably feel us shifting things around in there to get it placed right. A little weird, but hopefully nothing upsetting. You’d be in charge the whole time.”

Bucky looked at the tiny piece of tech again, considering it. 

He liked the idea. He liked imagining that he’d never feel that horrible, aching pain that radiated up through his shoulder, into his neck and his head, causing those terrible headaches. He liked the idea that he wouldn’t feel cold all the time. As for his arm, well… this one was such a vast improvement to the old one, that he really should thank Tony for blasting the thing off him. And he said it wouldn’t hurt. Bucky could handle pain, that he knew very well. But that didn’t mean he went seeking it out. 

“I… I think so. Maybe.”

Tony just nodded, no sign of impatience or offense in his face, voice, or body language. “Take your time with it. Think it over. There’s no pressure either way.”

“Alright. Thanks, Tony.”

The billionaire just smiled. “No problem.”

* * *

Bucky decided to give himself a week to make up his mind, but he only needed one day. He trusted Tony, he trusted Shuri, and he knew perfectly well how smart they both were. 

“Let’s do it,” He said to Tony when they happened to be raiding the kitchen for a midnight snack at the same time. “The thing for my arm.”

“Yeah? You sure?” Tony asked around a mouthful of cold, leftover scrambled eggs.

“Yeah. I trust you.”

The surprise in Tony's eyes faded into a somewhat goofy-looking smile around the eggs, and he flashed Bucky a thumbs up. “Sounds good. Just let me know when and we’ll get you set up. No more cold shoulder for you.”

Rolling his eyes, Bucky felt brave enough to give Tony a light shove as the guy snickered at his own pun, and he smiled as he set to making a peanut butter sandwich.

* * *

Tony was muttering curses under his breath as he maneuvered three different precision tools around inside Bucky’s very pretty metal arm. The exact spot he wanted to get to in order to install the heating chip was trickier than he’d anticipated, but not impossible. It just took some delicate work and holding a screwdriver in place with his teeth.

“Should I be worried that you’re using increasingly creative curses while you’re wrist-deep in my arm?” Bucky sounded quite calm, and cocked his eyebrow at Tony when he glanced up at the guy.

“’spart of my process,” Tony managed around the handle of the screwdriver, nearly dislodging the large power cable that ran down through the middle of the arm. “’f I’m not cursing, ‘m not doing it right.”

Bucky nodded and glanced away, apparently amusing himself with watching the bots. “I’ll consider your imaginative use of four-letter words a positive thing, then.”

“You do that, Snowf’ake.”

Another minute or two of maneuvering, and having Bucky hold one of the tools for him, Tony finally got the chip placed where he wanted it and delicately soldered it in place. He withdrew the long, thin tweezers with a grin, and carefully extracted the other tools. “Aw, yis, who’s the best prosthetic mechanic on this side of the globe?”

Bucky was smirking. “Did you just say ‘aw yis’?”

“No comments from the peanut gallery unless they involve stroking my ego, thank you.” Tony gave him a poke with the screwdriver as he turned the arm sensation controls back on and closed up the access panel, wiping off his fingerprints and the odd smudge of grease with the cuff of his sleeve. “Okay, we ready to turn that thing on?”

“Yup.”

“It might give you a slight shock, like a static discharge, when it first turns on. It’s just the power source reacting with the vibranium and the arc reactor tech, and it might need a sec to get jiving.”

Bucky nodded. “No problem. I’ve had worse.”

Tony grimaced. “And never again, if I have anything to say about it. Okay, FRIDAY, do your thing.”

“Sure thing, boss,” The AI answered, and a second later Bucky did flinch slightly.

“There we go. Not too bad, right? Any pain or weirdness?” Tony had pulled up the scans of the arm, watching as the new chip came online, and he glanced at Bucky with a smile.

Only to freeze at what he saw on Bucky’s face.

It was impossible to describe. It was… like something had both fallen away and came forward behind Bucky’s eyes. His entire body had gone still, his face a blank mask, and Tony figured it out right as those flat, expressionless eyes turned his way.

“Bucky?”

A flicker of life, but not enough. The Winter Soldier, not Bucky, was looking at Tony, and it sent a chill right through him. Tony took a slow, deep breath, and forced himself to stay calm, even as his heart rate picked up. Shuri had said something like this might happen, back before Bucky had been cleared to come to the Compound, the Soldier being triggered on his own. But that didn’t necessarily mean that anyone was in danger. The Asset had been a weapon because of what he’d been ordered to do, not because he was intrinsically evil.

“Boss? Something wrong?” FRIDAY had obviously picked up on the shift in the room.

“Not yet,” He replied, keeping his voice even and soft. Knowing he was maybe taking his life in his hands, Tony took a risk, calling upon the rusty Russian he’d picked up in the 90’s in order to woo a particularly lovely ballerina. That, and his knowledge of what had happened to Bucky while in Hydra’s hands. “_Soldat?_ ”

The Soldier’s focus sharpened, and he looked Tony up and down with something akin to calculation. “_Handler?_ ”

Tony shook his head. “_No. Friend._”

It was hard to tell, given the lack of expression, but he was pretty sure the Winter Soldier didn’t know what to do with that. He looked around without moving his head, his eyes combing every inch of the workshop space within his range of vision. “_Mission?_ ”

Tony tried to think fast, something that would be safe. “_No mission. Rest and recuperate_.”

Yeah, he was definitely getting a bit of a hairy eyeball now. He struggled to remember the Russian words for what he wanted to ask, but gave up and switched to English. “_Soldat_, you must be healthy to perform well. Do you require sustenance?”

Cocking his head, the Soldier regarded him for a moment, then shook his head. “No.”

Figuring that the least said, the better, Tony nodded and carefully stepped around to the other side of the table, then pulled up some holoscreens. He didn’t feel comfortable giving the guy an order, and it wasn’t like he had any ideas anyway. Breathing in a controlled, measured way, Tony pulled up Sudoku on one screen, specs for a new hot rod on another, and cat videos on a third. He wouldn’t have to think for any of those, and they were relaxing. Maybe they’d bring his blood pressure and heart rate down just by being in proximity. 

The Soldier stayed where he was, his eyes jumping between Tony and their surroundings, and it was several long minutes before he even moved his head to look around.

“You can look around, if you want to. Please stay in the room, though.” Tony said quietly, being careful to phrase his words as a request and not an order, noting the way the Soldier didn’t startle, but his shoulders tightened at Tony’s words. 

Tony went back to his Sudoku, sneaking glances through the screen every few seconds, still doing his best to remain calm. More minutes passed, then finally the Soldier got up from his chair and moved towards the couch, his steps precise and purposeful, movements somehow fluid. It was both eerie and graceful. His eyes were still flickering here and there, taking in every inch of the workshop, even as he sat on one end of the couch.

Several more minutes passed in silence, the Soldier unmoving except for his eyes, and Tony doing his best to stay calm. He finished off two Sudoku puzzles, then waved the screen away. And yep, the Soldier just sat there, his sharp gaze going to Tony as soon as he moved, then flitting away again.

He… didn’t really know what to do. How long would this last? Bucky was in there, somewhere, what would it take to bring him back? What would be safe?

For no good reason, Tony thought of the pancakes and sausage he’d eaten that morning.

“_Soldat?_ ”

His face twitched slightly, and his eyes shifted to Tony.

“Are you hungry? Thirsty?”

There was a pause, then a clipped, “_Nyet_.”

“Okay. Do you want to sleep? You can sleep if you want.”

The Soldier blinked a couple times, his eyes flicking between Tony and the rest of the room. Then, almost abruptly, he laid flat on his back on the couch, and closed his eyes.

Well… okay. That worked too.

Heart still beating a little faster than was normal, Tony stayed where he was and pulled up a message to send an update to Shuri.

* * *

The sound of movement on the couch an hour later drew Tony’s head around, and he spoke cautiously as Bucky… or well, the guy that was either Bucky or the Asset, it was yet to be determined, sat up. “_Soldat?_ ”

Bucky, not the Soldier, whipped around to face him, something like anger in his voice and on his features. “What?!”

“Oh, you’re back.” Tony wasn’t sure if he should be sighing with relief or not, but he did anyway as he got up and crossed the room towards the guy.

Bucky’s eyes narrowed as he approached. “What do you mean?”

“Your alter ego came out for a bit.”

Terror crossed his face, tension tightening his entire body. “What did I do?”

“Nothing.” Tony was quick to assure him. “You didn’t hurt anyone or anything, I promise. You asked me if I was your handler, I told you no. Said I was your friend, and suggested that you rest and asked if you wanted anything to eat. You sat on the couch and memorized the room, then stared off into space for a while. I told you you could sleep, and… you did, I guess. It’s been about an hour. That’s it.”

Bucky’s fast breathing transformed into hyperventilating, and Tony put a hand on his shoulder, sitting down on the couch with him.

“Hey, it’s okay. Breathe with me, come on. Slow inhale for three counts, alright? Do it with me. In for one, two, three. Now out, nice and slow, for three. One, two, three. And again, come on, do it with me.”

Tony coached him through several more slow breaths, stopping only when the guy didn’t seem like he was going to fall apart in a panic anymore. “That’s good. Keep breathing. You need anything? Anything I can get you? Water, meds, something to eat, something to punch?”

Bucky shook his head and kept breathing, closing his eyes as he did so. “She said this might happen, but I… I didn’t believe her. Thought it was all gone.”

“Shuri?”

Bucky nodded.

“I sent her a message, letting her know what happened. She wasn’t surprised that you didn’t do anything but look around.” Tony squeezed his shoulder gently, trying to be comforting. “Any idea what triggered it? Maybe the shock when we turned on the chip?”

He shrugged. “Could be. Can’t remember anything specific.”

“Shuri said stress could affect it, too. You’ve been through a whole lot the past couple weeks. That might be it too.”

“Yeah. Might be.” Bucky glanced up at him. “Thing was, I was just starting to relax. It’s… you’ve got cool stuff down here. I like your robots.”

Tony smiled and looked over at Dum-E, who had been puttering around the workshop swiping a questionably clean rag over various surfaces (including Tony and U) for the last fifteen minutes. “Yeah, they’re dumb but I love 'em.”

Bucky sighed, still looking a little spooked, but not so pale and shaky anymore. “You think maybe it was because I was relaxed?”

Tony shrugged helplessly. “I don’t know. Maybe it was that, maybe it was the shock in your arm, maybe it was something completely unrelated. But either way, you know what?”

“Hmm?” Bucky hummed, watching Dum-E.

“You didn’t hurt anyone. You didn’t do anything wrong. All you did was look around and go to sleep. That’s it.”

“This time,” He muttered darkly.

“We’ve got no reason to believe it’ll be different next time, or that there will even be a next time.”

Bucky nodded, but he didn’t look convinced.

“Hey,” Tony nudged Bucky’s knee with his own. “It’s okay. It’s over now. And if it happens again, we’ll deal with it when it happens, alright? You’re not alone. We’ve got your back.”

It took a second, but Bucky finally smiled a little. “Thanks. I think that helps.”

With a cheerful-sounding beep, Dum-E rolled over to them, waggling the cleaning rag in his claw. Maneuvering around with his typically clumsy, slightly jerky movements, the bot bent his arm and started wiping at Bucky’s arm.

“I believe he thinks you missed a spot, boss.” FRIDAY said pertly.

With a slightly choked sound, Bucky started to snicker. “I _really_ like your bots and AI’s, even though FRIDAY doesn’t like me much.”

“That’s not true.” FRIDAY actually managed to sound offended. “I just had to make you work for it.”

“Aw, thanks doll.” Bucky actually laughed as he looked at Tony, a glimmer of that old Brooklyn boy charm peeking through. “She really uses that sass she learned from you.”

Tony fixed him with a half-hearted glare, relief cascading through him. “This is the thanks I get for making you a self-heating arm? You ungrateful swine.”

“Absolutely disgraceful.” Bucky deadpanned right back, the effect ruined somewhat when Dum-E patted him on the head with his claw and rolled away, apparently satisfied with his buff job.

Tony couldn’t help but laugh too, and he offered a hand once he got to his feet. “Come on, you snarky jerk. I’m kicking you out of my workshop.”

Bucky accepted the hand up and headed towards the door, then paused. “I heard there’s a movie night later," He said, somewhat hesitantly. "I haven’t been to one yet. It’s still hard, sometimes. Being around a lot of people. But I think I’ll try tonight. You gonna be there?”

"You asking me on a date, Barnes?" Tony raised an eyebrow.

Bucky actually stuck his tongue out, which was delightfully juvenile. "No. But you're easy to be around."

Tony studiously hid any hint that he found that touching, and tilted his head to the side, considering it. “What movie?”

Bucky shrugged. “Something about a doll, maybe?”

Tony blinked, “Okay, that’s possibly either Chucky or Hello Dolly.”

“The second one… I think.”

Tony made a face. “Steve chose the movie, didn’t he?" He rolled his eyes at Bucky's nod. "I knew it, he's been on a musical kick. Ugh. Fine. But only because I haven’t had a good Barbra Streisand singalong for a while now, and that always makes Clint cry.”

If Bucky didn’t understand, he didn’t mention, but he did share a bowl of popcorn with Tony later that night. It took more than half the movie for Tony to figure out who was shooting unpopped popcorn nibs at his head when he wasn’t looking, and the look on his face when he realized it was Bucky, and not Clint, was utterly priceless.


End file.
